The Dearth in Vocations Warned by Sr. Lucia
In her final public interview[1] on Dec. 26, 1957, with Fr. Agustin Fuentes, Sister Lucia stated:
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell. …
“The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God.”
The Need for Holy Nuns Who Wear the Habit and Uphold Catholic Doctrine
The Church does not need thousands of women entering religious life, who refuse to practice celibacy or who refuse to wear the traditional habit as an expression of faith.
All religious sisters and nuns should wear the habit of their respective orders. No longer should these women, who have given their lives to the service of God and the Church, be dressing like laypeople, which is an error that has arisen in the past several decades. It is time to return to the ancient practice of wearing a distinct habit – this is not fulfilled by wearing laypeople’s clothing.
The habit inspires women to leave their lives and give themselves to God. The same is true for men who are inspired by the garments worn by priests and monks. To enter a religious order, one does not just experience a change of heart and soul, rather, there is also a change in the physical realm. For example, many religious orders require the women to adopt a new name when they become a nun in addition to wearing the habit. The new name and the new garments outward symbolize the dying to self of the old person. (The same holds true for men entering the religious life as Brothers: adopting a new name and wearing the habit of their respective Order.)
The fact is that the habit is truly a spiritual treasure. An indispensable key to increasing the number of religious sisters and nuns in the world is to again bring back the mandatory habit. No longer should nuns be allowed to live in apartments and wear laypeople’s’ clothing; rather, they should be living in a monastery or convent to praise and serve God. In fact, in so doing, these sisters violate the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which states: “Religious are to wear the habit of the institute determined according to the norm of proper law as a sign of their consecration and as a testimony of poverty” (Canon 669, 1).
The Need for Holy Priests and Monks Who Wear the Habit and Uphold Catholic Doctrine
Similarly, the Church needs vocations of holy, reverent men to the priesthood as well as to the religious life as Brothers or monks. Men who promote heresy or heterodox ideas – including so-called blessing of relations based on mortal sin, or ordaining women, or allowing homosexuals to be ordained, or abandoning priestly celibacy – are not the answer to the Church’s prayers. The Church needs holy men who feel called to rise up in the midst of the world in order to defend the Real Presence, defend Marian doctrine, encourage weekly Confession, and promote Traditional practices including women’s veils, altar rails, and offering exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass.
As Fr. Pat Stratford stated in his article “Why the Church must continue to uphold priestly celibacy”, priestly celibacy must be retained in the Catholic Church, and the Church does not need another modern priest attacking this Church doctrine.[2] People who promote the ordination of women remain opposed to apostolic tradition and to the firm teachings of the Church in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994), and they perform great dishonor to Christ and His Church. They have fallen into heresy and separated themselves from salvation unless they repent.
Satan Attacks Holy Vocations
God, in His goodness and generosity, showers us with proofs of the accuracy of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. And this too is why satan is not attacking Lutherans, or Baptists, or Muslims with the kind of ferocity he levels against Christ’s true Church. However, he is virulently attacking the Catholic priesthood; he has and is infiltrating our seminaries, and seducing men ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ to betray their office. To be aware of the depth and depravity of this attack we need only consider the sexual assault upon children, which has begun to be exposed; it is an absolutely diabolical and unspeakable blasphemy.
And satan does this because only in the Catholic Church does man find God’s truth.[3] Why would he waste his time on attacking those souls who are already under his rule? As Our Lady said when She appeared in Quito, Ecuador around the beginning of the 17th century:
“The devil will work to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every way, working with baneful cunning to destroy the spirit of their vocation and corrupting many. Those who will thus scandalize the Christian flock will bring upon all priests the hatred of bad Christians and the enemies of the One, Holy, Roman Catholic, and Apostolic Church. This apparent triumph of satan will cause enormous suffering to the good pastors of the Church…”
Satan also continues to attack marriage and family life, which indirectly leads to the falling away from the faith of souls. And this inevitably leads to fewer vocations to the priesthood and religious life. As Sr. Lucia famously wrote to Cadinal Caffara, “The final confrontation between the Lord and satan will be over family and marriage.”
Pray Always for Priests
May our priests be inspired with a true zeal for souls, the same zeal that caused the Holy Curé d’Ars, St. John Vianney, the Patron of Parish Priests, to declare:
“If I already had one foot in Heaven and I was told to return to the earth to work to convert sinners, I would gladly return. And if, to do this, it were necessary that I remain on earth until the end of the world, always rising at midnight and suffering as I suffer, I would consent with all my heart.”[4]
Prayer for Priests:
O Jesus, eternal High Priest, Good Shepherd, Font of Life, Who by a special favor of Thy most tender Heart hast given to us our priests in order to accomplish in us those holy ideals with which Thy grace inspires our hearts, let Thy mercy, we beseech Thee, come to the aid of our priests.
Grant them, O Jesus, lively faith in their works, unshakable hope in their trials, and fervent charity in their intentions. May Thy word, radiant with eternal Wisdom, become through continual meditation, the never-failing nourishment of their interior life; may the examples of Thy Life and Passion be renewed in their conduct and sufferings for our instruction and as a light and consolation in our sorrows.
Grant, O Lord, that our priests, free from all earthly attachments and solicitous for Thy glory alone, may persevere to their last breath in the fulfillment of duty and in purity of conscience. And when in death they deliver into Thy hands a task well done, may they have in Thee, Lord Jesus, their Master on earth, the eternal reward of the crown of justice in the glory of the Saints. Amen.[5]
[1] Read more of the interview here: Silencing of the Messengers: Father Fuentes (1959-1965).
[2] Father Lawrence Carney also addressed this topic in his article, “The Identity of the Priesthood,” found in Issue 131 of The Fatima Crusader. “Exposed: Errors of the 2023 Synod”.
[3] By its nature, truth is one, simple, integral, harmonious, and consistent. The truth does not allow contradiction, error, or falsity. And we know Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
[4] Brother Athanase, Procès de l’Ordinaire, p. 883.
[5] See more prayers for priests and vocations at http://www.catholictradition.org/Priests/priests4-2.htm